Product Review
Inside the making of a videogame that defined a generation: Grand Theft Auto Grand Theft Auto is one of the biggest and most controversial videogame franchises of all time. Since its first release in 1997,
GTA has pioneered the use of everything from 3D graphics to the voices of top Hollywood actors and repeatedly transformed the world of gaming. Despite its incredible innovations in the $75 billion game industry, it has also been a lightning rod of debate, spawning accusations of ethnic and sexual discrimination, glamorizing violence, and inciting real-life crimes.
Jacked tells the turbulent and mostly unknown story of
GTA's wildly ambitious creators, Rockstar Games, the invention and evolution of the franchise, and the cultural and political backlash it has provoked.
- Explains how British prep school brothers Sam and Dan Houser took their dream of fame, fortune, and the glamor of American pop culture and transformed it into a worldwide videogame blockbuster
- Written by David Kushner, author of Masters of Doom and a top journalist on gaming, and drawn from over ten years of interviews and research, including firsthand knowledge of Grand Theft Auto's creators and detractors
- Offers inside details on key episodes in the development of the series, including the financial turmoil of Rockstar games, the infamous "Hot Coffee" sex mini-game incident, and more
Whether you love
Grand Theft Auto or hate it, or just want to understand the defining entertainment product of a generation, you'll want to read
Jacked and get the real story behind this boundary-pushing game.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(6 customer reviews) 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
A Great Look Into the Great - and Controversial - Developers Behind Grand Theft Auto,
April 1, 2012 Anthony - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto (Hardcover)
David Kushner provides a fantastic view inside the rise of the tumultuous, controversial and great Rockstar Games. Kushner provides insight to the private geniuses behind some of the greatest games of this and the previous console generation, from the guerrilla marketing campaign at E3 1999 for GTA 2 to the all-night parties at "the Rockstars'" favorite bar to the schism created by the controversial title Manhunt, to Jack Thompson's repeated attempts to take them down Kushner's fantastic novel is the closest thing we'll get to a documentary about Rockstar Games.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
jacked is terrific,
March 31, 2012 howie black - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto (Hardcover)
I have been an avid reader of David Kushner books and articles for a long time. I just bought and read Jacked overnight. It is one of those page turners where one chapter leads into the next and you want to see what happens.
Kushner writes clearly and cogently about Grand Theft Auto. I did not now HOW successful a venture that game was. WOW!He makes it evident, but more, he gives you a terrific insight into the whacky life of the creators and how Grand Theft Auto came into being and the extraordinary impact it had on the whole gaming industry from players to Congress.
I would like to see this book as an HBO special or a movie. It will have a huge audience.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
More great true-life page-turning fiction from Dave Kushner!,
March 31, 2012 booklover - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto (Kindle Edition)
I was surfing the amazon book section and noticed that one of my fave writers, Dave Kushner has a new book out! I think Kushner is a fantastic writer who takes stories from pop-culture i.e. Masters of Doom and Johnny Magic and masterfully brings the characters, plot twists and drama to life as if you are reading an exciting fiction novel. I bought Jacked and read it this morning and am now writing about it so that others discover this story about a video game empire that everyone knows the name of - Grand Theft Auto. I couldn't put it down and it's a great insight into branding, marketing, business and power. Really enjoyable and awesome.
